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News ID: 83687
Publish Date : 10 October 2020 - 21:49

Tehran to Fine Those Not Wearing Masks

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Mask wearing has become mandatory in public in the Iranian capital and violators will be fined, President Hassan Rouhani announced on Saturday as the country battles a third wave of coronavirus infections.
The daily death toll from COVID-19 reached a record of 239 this week in Iran, the worst hit country in the Middle East.
On Saturday, the Health Ministry reported 195 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the total toll to 28,293. There were 3,875 new cases, ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV.
Masks have been compulsory in indoor public spaces since July, although no penalties were imposed. Now they are mandatory in public both indoors and outdoors in the capital Tehran.
Rouhani said in televised remarks that anyone caught without a mask would be fined 500,000 rials and those infected with the coronavirus who do not self-quarantine or inform friends and colleagues of their illness would be fined 2 million rials.
The Iranian rial fell to a new low against the U.S. dollar on Saturday as the country reels from the coronavirus pandemic and U.S. sanctions. The dollar was selling for as much as 304,300 rials on the unofficial market, up from 295,949 on Friday, according to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com.
The United States slapped fresh sanctions on Iran’s financial sector on Thursday. Tehran has accused Washington of undermining its ability to pay for basic necessities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools, mosques, shops, restaurants and other public institutions in Tehran closed for a week on Oct. 3 in an effort to curb the spread


 of the virus. The city’s governor extended the closure on Friday for another week.
Iran said on Friday new coronavirus infections meant its hospitals would not treat non-emergency patients and extended a lockdown in the capital, which has been the hardest hit, for a second week.
"Due to the large number of coronavirus outpatients and patients, hospitalization of non-emergency patients is not allowed until further notice,” Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi was quoted as saying.  
Other countries issued similar orders earlier in the pandemic but this would be the first time Iran has done so. Military hospitals will now also admit civilian coronavirus patients, state media said.
Rouhani on Friday called new U.S. sanctions on Iran’s banks another attempt to prevent purchases of medicine and food and said that in the context of the coronavirus pandemic they were "cruel, terrorist and inhumane”.
Washington said the prohibitions did not apply to goods such as food and medicine. Analysts said the sanctions may further deter foreign banks from working with Iran, even for permitted humanitarian transactions.
Officials urged Iranians to observe precautions against the spread of the virus while attending the burial of Muhammad Reza Shajarian, Iran’s celebrated musician, after thousands of fans gathered outside the Tehran hospital where he died of cancer on Thursday.